Teen Held In Shooting Of Student Youth Was Injured At Freedom High

Bethlehem Township police arrested an 18-year-old township man Wednesday in connection with the shooting of a ninth-grade Freedom High School student Oct. 24 in the parking lot of the school.

George Edward Kopas of 3070 Hodle Ave., Bethlehem Township, was charged with assault and possession of a weapon on school property. Police filed the charges with District Justice Dennis Monaghan of Bethlehem Township, and Kopas will receive the complaint and notification of a hearing date through the mail.

The incident occurred about 2:30 p.m. Oct. 24 while the victim was on the school parking lot. Police said the youth felt pain in his chest and saw blood. He was treated at Muhlenberg Hospital Center where doctors removed a pellet that had lodged about an inch deep into his chest.

Police said an investigation revealed that the 18-year-old was waiting in a vehicle in the parking lot for his girlfriend. A B-B rifle was used to shoot at a female student, who allegedly had beat up Kopas's girlfriend, police said, but the pellet missed the female student and hit the ninth-grader, who was on a skateboard.